Okay, this is more of a rant than anything else. Today, I went in search of some new bible software over lunch for my new MacBook Air. Ending up at Mardel, I found what I thought were some incredible bargains. I picked up what I needed “on sale” for the Mac. But, I ended up buying something else for the PC at home. Sitting among the selections of 50% off items was a Logos Scholar’s Library. Typically it retails for about $550.00, but today it was half off. If you’ve been in the market for bible software, you know this is a deal. I’d never pay full price (too much money), but at half off, it’s worth it and I’ll get a lot of use out of it. I was really excited about the purchase until about midway through the installation process. All of a sudden there was the nasty error message. Apparently, the software serial number had already been registered to someone else. How could this happen? It seems that I wasn’t the first person to buy this box. Someone else bought it, downloaded it, and returned it to Mardel for a refund. Since there is an online verification process of the serial number, I was cut off in the middle of the installation. I contacted Logos and Mardel. Logos would contact the original registrant for verification that the software had been in fact returned before they could register this product to me. This could take a day to a couple of weeks according to the customer service representative at Logos (who by the way very pleasant).
I’ve never been a victim of software theft before, let alone for a bible software program. Then it struck me, the Scholar Library is a specialized program. Unless you’re a minister, research writer, or in-depth student of the original languages, you’re not going to purchase this product. I’d been most likely duped by a fellow minister! One of my own kind was less than honest with a software purchase/return; that stinks! That ought not to be; we should be above approach. Well the story does have a happy ending. Logos called back (within an hour) as they were able to contact via email the first user. The original registrant “vaguely” remembered returning software to Mardel. The official registration is now in my name and the Scholar’s Library is loaded and ready for use. I have to say the manager at Mardel was very helpful, too.
